Saturday, November 11, 2006

Cat Crisis

You might have noticed that I’ve not had much time over the last few days to visit and comment on the cat blogosphere. I had a bit of a cat crisis.

Behind my apartment there is an open field that is being prepared for construction. At the moment people walk their dogs there and Bubbles goes there to hunt mice. About 1 week ago I went out to call Bubbles inside and I saw that his eyes were fixed on something in a pile of concrete slabs in the corner of the site. I tried to see what he was looking at, and then I saw it. A tiny black kitten! The next moment the mother cat came storming out screaming at Bubbles. He did not know what hit him and immediately got out of there. Momcat was a beautiful grey cat I’ve not seen around before. I went home and got some stinky goodness for the mom. When I returned I saw that there was another kitten, a little tabby. I put out the food and returned home. For the next 7 days, I continued to feed the Momcat, Little Tabby and Little Black One. I talked to one of the site managers and he told me that the area where the kitten’s den was, were going to be cleaned-up within the next month. He said he would let me know before they start on that section.

Here is a picture of their "den". You can see Little Black One in the center of the picture if you click to biggify.

I immediately started calling everybody I could think of to get the Mom and kittens out of there. Most of the organizations did not even return my call. I even went to Petco and PetSmart on the weekend hoping that one of the groups that have cats for adoption might be willing to help. I heard the same thing over and over. They are full, they can’t take any more cats. One person told me that I should call Animal Control and have the Mom and kittens euthanized.I did not know what to do. There was one person I knew would help me. I met her through the Nice Lady who saved Mrs. B and just started volunteering for her a week before I found the kittens. We’ll call her the Nice Lady’s Friend. She has been saving and feeding cats on and around LSU campus for about 20 years. However she was on holiday until Friday (yesterday). I continued to feed Momcat and tried to make her used to my presence, and the fact that I bring food, in the hope that it will make trapping her and her kittens easier.

Thursday morning I went and feed Momcat as usual and took this picture. You can see both Little Tabby and Little Black One.

I went home and when I came out of the shower about 45 minutes later, I thought I heard the sounds of large machinery. I went outside and this is what I found.

The den was destroyed. I was distraught and frantically started looking for the kittens. I found nothing. No trace of kittens or Momcat. Luckily the earth moving machine got stuck on it’s way to disposing a slab of concrete. I continued to look for the kittens, but found none. After a while I sat down and just tried to listen for any sounds. Only silence. I was very sad. I’ve been looking for a couple of hours now and had many fire-ants bites. I was loosing hope

And then I saw it. A little black face. Little Black One was hiding in a pile of plastic rubble a few feet away. But as soon as I moved he disappeared. Just about this time, the workers retuned with a Bobcat to continue moving the rubble away. I explained what I was doing there. They said that they were also removing the pile of rubble where I saw Little Black One just a few minutes before. I was panicked and did not know what to do. There was still no sign of Momcat or Little Tabby. I decided to hang around. Luckily it took them much longer to remove the concrete blocks of the den than they thought, so at around 3 pm they told me that they will not start on the pile where I saw Little Black One until the next day. I was very relieved. I decided to go home and come back after all the commotion stopped to see whether I could find the kitten.

I was only a few hundred feet away when I heard the Bobcat stop. The young man driving it yelled to me that he sees a kitten! He jumped off the machine and grabbed it! It was Little Tabby! She survived. She was shivering even though it was not cold. Whether it was all the commotion or hunger that made the leave her hiding place I don’t know. But the guy that grabbed her said she was between the old den and where I saw Little Black One, right next to where he was scooping the slabs! I took her home, while the driver said he would be real careful and keep a lookout for the other kitten. I made the kitten comfortable at home and went back to the site. On my way back I saw the Momcat! She was OK. She was sitting in the grass a few hundred feet away from where the den was. She was frantic, but too scared of the sound of the Bobcat to come closer. Soon it was time for the work to stop for the day. I left to go and get a trap to try and catch Momcat and Little Black One. I called the Nice Lady’s Friend (even though she was on holiday in California) and she said I could get a trap from her home. I went to set up the trap and saw the Momcat on top of the pile of rubble that used to be her den. Since I knew that the whole area was going to be demolished the next day I was desperate to trap Momcat and Little Black One.

Unfortunately the trap was empty yesterday morning. I’m pretty sure the Momcat moved Little Black One. Sadly I think she might have moved him to another area that was also cleared yesterday.I’m continuing to put out food for her. I saw a flash of Momcat last night, but now I have no idea where she is hiding Little Black One. There are no obvious good, save hiding places left in our area.

Here is the site of the den Saturday morning.

I guess Little Tabby is about 5 weeks old. He (I think it’s a he) is doing fine, eating sleeping and even using his litterbox (although he is not so good covering up yet). He woke up this morning with a bit of sore front paw, but I hope it isn’t anything serious. Maybe he sprained it playing with Quincy’s feathers. He really went wild for the fev-vers. If it is not better by tomorrow I’ll take him to the vet.

The 2 Bs are not amused! Mrs. B hisses and Bubbles seems to be terrified of him. At the moment Little Tabby is confined to a big cage in my bedroom.

I take him out to play and cuddle, but am keeping him away from the2 Bs at the moment. I hope to find him a forever home when he is a little bigger. I know there are many cats in desperate need of homes at the moment, but I hope that somebody will consider taking in this little kitten.

In the meantime I’ll look after him and I will continue to try and find Momcat and Little Black One.

Well, that is the story of the last couple of days in the house of the 2 Bs (and now one little tabby).

25 comments:

It sounds a lot like my story of rescuing Precious, although I had nobody I had to deal with as she was in the woods. It is heartbreaking, for sure. I was going to try and find a home for Precious, but she stole my heart, they do that, you know.

Aww. She is a real cutie, that little tabby. The good news is she's still little and adorable, so hopefully finding a home will be easier. I wish you the best of luck with the Mom cat, it's so heartbreaking. She probably thinks her little tabby is lost, and has hidden the black one so he doesn't get lost too! I hope it all works out for the best. Good Luck again. Sarah

Awww, you are so cool! Thanks for going through so much trying to help the puddins. You sound like mommy. It is so hard trying to rescue.Take care and lotsa headbutts and snuggles for your efforts!PS In our experience, if you can keep putting food out, momcat will come back to where she knows there is food. More than likely, she'll start bringing the black kitten with her for food in a week or two...

Wow! I was on edge the whole story! At least you got him. And you know momcat is safe and hiding her other baby. He is adorable Cecelia! Can't wait to see and hear more about lil' tabby boy and hopefully his mom and sibling!

Oh your Mommy is so nice to help the kitties! The Little Tabby is adorrybul. That was a furry nice man wif the masheen to help rescue the Lil Tabby. We hopes she can find and help the Mommy and the Little Black One too!Purrrrrrrrrrs,Sanjee, Boni, Mini, Pepi and Gree

I agree, you really are a hero saving little Tabby like that. I just hope that the mum cat and little black kitty can keep safe and pluck up the courage to come back out into the open. Thank you for caring for our little helpless friends in their time of need.Jackie

Ohhh, what a story! Well done Cecilia, you did a great job so far, Little Tabby is so lucky that you are looking after him. We are sure someone will adopt him because he is so cute. We will keep our fingers crossed that you (or someone) manage to rescue the Momcat and the Little Black Kitty too. We'll be back to check if there is any news. Hopefully Bubbles & Mrs. B will get over their trauma at having Little Tabby in the house!

Wow, what a story! We just got caught up. That Lil Tabby is adorable! I hope his fambly is all okay now. Mom found it ironic that there's a no trespassing sign in the Saturday pictor. Like the kitties could read it! They might get towed away, like it says! (Sorry, NOT funny). Purrs an headbutts to you, the two Bs, an the Lil Tabby, an nose kissies to the tabby, too.